Home :: DVD :: Drama :: General  

African American Drama
Classics
Crime & Criminals
Cult Classics
Family Life
Gay & Lesbian
General

Love & Romance
Military & War
Murder & Mayhem
Period Piece
Religion
Sports
Television
Broadway Damage

Broadway Damage

List Price: $24.95
Your Price: $22.46
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 >>

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: what's so bad about feeling good?
Review: I totally enjoyed this film. After seeing so many dreary and depressing films with gay characters or dreary and depressing films about New York City, BROADWAY DAMAGE is a refreshing change-of-pace! The performances are all outstanding, especially Michael Shawn Lucas. This film has comedy, drama, romance, friendship. It's simply a great "feel good" film...and what's wrong with that?

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Sweet, Playful, Fun entertainment
Review: If you love a good romantic fantasy, you'll probably LOVE this. This film is about reliving those risk-taking moments when first falling in love, and it's ultimately about friends, arguing in favor of love beginning with a strong friendship. There are so few films of this genre (sad we even call this a genre) that have a light-hearted feeling. The script isn't an oscar contender, but that didn't bother me. The characters & performances have their sweetness and humor, and are easy on the eye. All my friends and I loved it (even the cynical ones).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Funny, well acted, really entertaining
Review: It was a fun movie to watch, the music that David plays while Marc listens is beautiful (I would like to know the artist and title), the acting was excellent and really entertaining.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Broadway Damaged
Review: It's always disappointing to see a good child actor turned bad. Mara Hobel (the young Christina in "Mommy Dearest") was terrific as a child but lost whatever acting talent to which she might once have laid claim. The movie is passable as entertainment but not as a comedy. The love story part of the movie seemed rather contrived and very predictable. I really wanted to like it but alas, it was only so-so.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Broadway Damaged
Review: It's always disappointing to see a good child actor turned bad. Mara Hobel (the young Christina in "Mommy Dearest") was terrific as a child but lost whatever acting talent to which she might once have laid claim. The movie is passable as entertainment but not as a comedy. The love story part of the movie seemed rather contrived and very predictable. I really wanted to like it but alas, it was only so-so.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Would like to see more movies like this one!
Review: Like a few other reviews, it's a "feel good" movie, and it is. Like "Trick" or "Broken Hearts Club" without the porn subject matter it makes me wish there were more movies like it and with older stars portraying long successful relationships (without the Aids issue). Movies are influential in our lives and they are role models that give us hope or what some dreams can grow into, and we definitely need more "happy endings".

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Would like to see more movies like this one!
Review: Like a few other reviews, it's a "feel good" movie, and it is. Like "Trick" or "Broken Hearts Club" without the porn subject matter it makes me wish there were more movies like it and with older stars portraying long successful relationships (without the Aids issue). Movies are influential in our lives and they are role models that give us hope or what some dreams can grow into, and we definitely need more "happy endings".

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Would like to see more movies like this one!
Review: Like a few other reviews, it's a "feel good" movie, and it is. Like "Trick" or "Broken Hearts Club" without the porn subject matter it makes me wish there were more movies like it and with older stars portraying long successful relationships (without the Aids issue). Movies are influential in our lives and they are role models that give us hope or what some dreams can grow into, and we definitely need more "happy endings".

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a real hit
Review: Like a good Broadway show, this film has it all: a great-looking, talented cast; a clever story; memorable music; optimism; and a warm-hearted ending. Michael Shawn Lucas is perfect as Marc, a sweet hunk trying to make it as an actor on Broadway. He goes to audition after audition, suffering rejection after rejection. Hence, Broadway 'damage'. His nerdy but cute song-writing friend Robert (Aaron Williams) harbors a secret passion for him, but hides it because handsome Marc is a perfect 'ten' and, therefore, out of reach. Their companion Cynthia -- overweight and over-the-top -- is played by Mara Hobel, no stranger to campy films. She played opposite Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford's daughter in 'Mommie Dearest', one of the great camp classics of all time. The three friends share career problems, relationships, and other personal traumas. They are loveable and a joy to watch. When Robert finally makes his 'grand gesture' to Marc, he does so in a wonderfully witty song (by Cindy Soltoff) which is sweet, bouyant, touching, and tuneful enough for any Broadway show. This is a real hit.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Breezy romantic comedy wears its heart on its sleeve
Review: Responding to the cynicism which had begun to blight the movie business in which he was working in a technical capacity, writer-director-editor Victor Mignatti took several years to develop a script before making his defiant feature debut with "Broadway Damage" (1997), a bright and breezy romantic comedy with a shamelessly romantic heart. Michael Shawn Lucas and Aaron Williams play lifelong friends and fellow actors, chasing their dreams through the byways of Manhattan, securing one night stands in lieu of committed relationships, and sometimes getting involved with completely unsuitable guys (a liaison with hunky neighbor Hugh Panaro is particularly disastrous). Roommate Mara Hobel (the young Christina Crawford in "Mommie Dearest", 1981) knows instinctively that Lucas and Williams are destined to be together, but Lucas is completely oblivious to Williams' torch-sized infatuation. With all the familiar elements thus in place, anyone who doubts the possibility of a happy ending ought to be thoroughly ashamed of themselves!

At a time when most low budget gay movies have more in common with radio plays than anything else, substituting dialogue for visual stimulation, Mignatti explores his characters' obsessions whilst moving the plot forward with hardly a backward glance. Much of the film's success is due to the three appealing leads: Hobel plays a spoiled rich kid, stifled by her parents' expectations, who breezes through life in a fantasy world of her own making until Big Bad Reality begins to intrude on her complacency. Williams is actually too attractive to be entirely convincing as a geeky Sondheim fanatic, but his enthusiasm is genuinely infectious, and he plays the part like a stage character, with speech intonations straight out of a Broadway production. Meanwhile, Lucas provides the film's emotional core, and he conveys just enough charm and savvy to earn the viewers' affections. Nice pecs, too.

For all its pleasantries, however, this isn't an entirely rose-tinted view of the world. Mignatti's script endorses the fundamental value of our hopes and aspirations, whilst reminding us that such things are no defence against the harsh realities of modern living. An obvious lesson, perhaps, but worth repeating, especially in the company of such big-hearted, hopelessly idealistic characters. And if it all seems a little too bland and predictable at times, the movie scores points for daring to wear a great big optimistic heart on its sleeve. Mignatti's editing skills and Michael Mayers' polished cinematography gives the production a genuine technical gloss, and there's a handful of excellent original songs (by Cindy Soltoff, Gabriel Zenone and Ken Dahl) which can be accessed separately in an audio-only section of the DVD.

Though popular at various film festivals, where it won a number of awards, the film took quite a while to secure theatrical distribution, until it was picked up by Jour de Fete in 1998. However, the material actually plays better on TV, and Wolfe Video's region-free disc is letterboxed at 1.85:1. It's an excellent print, but the lack of anamorphic encoding is a real drawback. Sound format is two-channel stereo. There's a trailer but no captions, and the film runs a slightly indulgent 110m 34s.


<< 1 2 3 4 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates